Product DescriptionSilence, A Year from Monday, M, Empty Words and X (in this order) form the five parts of a series of books in which Cage tries, as he says,to find a way of writing which comes from ideas, is not about them, but which produces them. Often these writings include mesostics and essays created by subjecting the work of other writers to chance procedures using the I Ching (what Cage called writing through). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Abstract Art Philosophy
John Cage is certainly an individual.His mind is an adventure to traverse, and his philosophy is certain to make you look at sound in a different way.The text consists of his lectures and essays.Interspersed are anecdotes, some of which have have no conceivable point and all of which have no connection to the lectures or each other.Cage's ideas on silence, noise, rhythm, and music are interesting for any musician to explore.He also spends a little time on modern dance.His writings show significant influence from Zen, and some are quite difficult to understand."Silence" is definitely worthwhile for musicians, philosophers, or anyone ready for an adventure in to the human mind.

A Seminal 20th Century (And Beyond) Text (from Ahadada Books)
I always think of John Cage as "Klatuu" in "The Day The Earth Stood Still," arriving in a turn-table-shaped rig to deliver the truth about the future of music to the masses. He parks his space ship, and his buddy Gort, on the mall and goes out to make a point.At first only the smartest man in the world could understand the equations he and Billy left on the office black board, but soon everyone would be standing stranded on the streets of Paris and Beijing wondering what the heck's up, and what's all this noise about?Of course, Klatuu gets killed and brought back to life (Cage wisely skipped that), and flies back to wherever he came from (as did Cage a few years back), but our man Cage beats Klatuu by light years, because this MAN FROM THE FUTURE left behind a collection of lectures and writings on the nature of sound, art, literature and BEING that still resonates.This is a fascinating tool box to dig through, even though some of the most interesting selections pre-date Klatuu.One innovation that Cage pioneers in this book is the use of random processes to give form to his lectures.This results in timed "silences" in the texts (very similar to performance scores) and poem-like structures of words.Cage also adds the 20th century's plastic-fantastic Americanized (and therefore ever more elastic) concept of ZEN to the tool box of avant-garde poly-practioners, which results in yet another permission given to innovate.In fact, when I encounter new music, writing, art, one of the basic things I seek is PERMISSION TO DO, and that's exactly what Cage is up to in these lectures.Not only is PERMISSION GIVEN, but he hands over many of the tools to begin.That's why this book is vital, seminal (pun intended) and necessary for every experimentalist in the arts and in life.Cage also has a great sense of humor in these writings.YOUTUBE includes a wonderful video of a guest appearance that Cage made on the old "What's My Line."Before the barely comprehending black & white stares of Gary Moore, Bess Myerson and the crew, Cage plays mix-masters, toasters, and other appliances, watching the clock, as always, and with a straight face bringing the odd beauty of new sound and his own Houdini-like showmanship into America's living rooms, just as he unpacks his ideas in the minds of any attentive reader of this book to this day.As classic as a 1960 limited edition T-Bird guaranteed to bring wows if driven into the 21st century and on and on into the future of human thought.

Very Interesting!!
This book is a work of art in itself. John Cage takes so many of his theories and applies them to his writing style, formatting, and type style.I suggest knowing a little about him before reading this book as it is a little easy to get lost in translation (figuratively speaking). Overall, it is definitely worth reading, and it is fairly affordable...a good addition to any collection.

Essential
Not just for musicians, but for anybody who is interested in music or philosophy.Cage's ideas presented in the work are fascinating in and of themselves, but even the manner in which he physically notates his thoughts on paper is amazing to see.

There's a common argument that his ideas (and this book) are overrated.I find this difficult to digest, especially when one considers the enormous impact Cage's writings and compositions have had on countless composers (basically anyone composing after 1950 has most likely taken a thing or two from the ideas in this book).

Sometimes he can be a little tough to follow in the book, as properly constructed sentences are not high up on Cage's list of priorities.However, this book has so much to offer that it is worth wading through the occasional slow spot.

So give it a whirl.Even if you don't like Cage's music, reading this book will give you insights into what he did that may change your mind or at least instill a newfound respect.At its best, this is inspiration of the highest sort.

Quintessential Cage
I keep readingit year after year and I keep finding sections of it I've never seen before.magic.A the same time, I read the same part overs and over again years later and they just get better.

Product DescriptionJohn Cage was a man of extraordinary and seemingly limitless talents: musician, inventor, composer, poet. He became a central figure of the avant-garde early in his life and remained at that pinnacle until his death in 1992 at the age of eighty. Now award-winning biographer Kenneth Silverman gives us the first comprehensive life of this remarkable artist. We follow Cage from his Los Angeles childhood—his father was a successful inventor—through his stay in Paris from 1930 to 1931, where immersion in the burgeoning new musical and artistic movements triggered an explosion of creativity in him and, after his return to the States, into his studies with the seminal modern composer Arnold Schoenberg. We see Cage’s early experiments with sound and percussion instruments, and watch as he develops his signature work with prepared piano, radio static, random noise, and silence. We learn of his many friendships over the years with other composers, artists, philosophers, and writers; of his early marriage and several lovers, both female and male; and of his long relationship with choreographer Merce Cunningham, with whom he would collaborate on radically unusual dances that continue to influence the worlds of both music and dance.

Drawing on interviews with Cage’s contemporaries and friends and on the enormous archive of his letters and writings, and including photographs, facsimiles of musical scores, and Web links to illustrative sections of his compositions, Silverman gives us a biography of major significance: a revelatory portrait of one of the most important cultural figures of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Product DescriptionIncludes lectures, essays, diaries and other writings, including How to Improve the World (You Will Only Make Matters Worse) and Juilliard Lecture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Very Interesting
I find his book very interesting and informative in many ways. Most of it is very difficult to read because 1. John Cage is extremely intellectual, and 2. He is very avan garde, so some of the formats in which he writes in can be very complicated. I enjoy it being complicated though because there is something you can always figure out about it or just look into very closely. My favorite subject of this book are his journal/diary entries. They include entries of him away at master classes and the things that he talks about are humorous, great to know, and interesting to think about. I recommend this selection of John Cage highly.

or: today(?)
Yes.

The second collection of John Cage's writings to appear (after Silence), A year From Monday is indispensable to anyone wishing to have more than a passing understanding of Cage's work and thought.In usual Cage fashion, the lectures, essays, "diaries," anecdotes, and assorted miscellanea jump off the page - utilizing an increasingly diverse array of typefaces and sizes, the writings contained here blaze the trail that leads to the mesostics and other verbal experiments that characterize the remainder of Cage's literary work beginning with M: Writings '67-'72.

Including, amongst numerous other gems, the "Two Statements on Ives," "26 Statements re Duchamp," "Jasper Johns: Stories and Ideas," the "Julliard Lecture," "Lecture on Commitment," and a collection of personal reminiscences/Zen riddles entitled "How to Pass, Kick, Fall, and Run," A Year From Monday contains an overflow of priceless Cageisms.

Beginning with an unforgettable cover (three slightly-overlapping photos of Cage's face, the first serious, the second beginning to open up, the third in full cackle) and never slowing down, the collection demonstrates perfectly Cage's relevance to musicians firstly, and thinkers finally.From one of the most significant and influential composers of the 20th century, A year From Monday demonstrates the originality, openness, and precision of thought that make Cage relevant to a much broader audience than simply the avante-garde musician.
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Product Description“What I’m proposing to myself and to other people, iswhat I often call the tourist attitude—that you act asthough you’ve never been there before. So that you’re notsupposed to know anything about it. If you really get downto brass tacks, we have never been anywhere before.”–John Cage, 1992

John Cage advocated paying attention to the world around us, and “to the life that we are so excellently living.” He is mainly known as a composer who affected the course of music in our time, but he also lectured, wrote commentary and poetry, and made prints, watercolors, and drawings. He died in 1992, but his work continues to affect people conscious of shaping their own lives. Cage worked at Crown Point Press, publisher of fine art prints, every year from 1978 until his death. During that period he produced 27 groups of prints, mostly etchings, totalling 667 individually composed works of art. Kathan Brown worked with Cage on these prints that make up the largest and most sustained aspect of his visual art. In this book, she speaks from her own experience about how he worked. The many illustrations make it easy to see what she is talking about, and she often uses Cage's own words to describe particular works or reflect upon the nature of his art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A masterful overview of Cage's visual art.
This is a very beautiful book, with the focus on Cage's print works.One will also find examples of Cage's drawings and watercolors, but they are included here more as a referance point to the print works.The works focussed on in this book are a wonderful selection of his prints, all done at the print studio of Kathyn Brown.The layout of the book, and the detail of description of Cage's working methods, are all topnotch.The quality of the printing and binding of the book is excellent also.Any fan of Cage, and of contemporary print editions, will definitely want to have this beautiful volume in their library.
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First performed at the midpoint of the twentieth century, John Cage’s 4'33", a composition conceived of without a single musical note,is among the most celebrated and ballyhooed cultural gestures in the history of modern music. A meditation on the act of listening and the nature of performance, Cage’s controversial piece became the iconic statement of the meaning of silence in art and is a landmark work of American music.

In this book, Kyle Gann, one of the nation’s leading music critics, explains 4'33" as a unique moment in American culture and musical composition. Finding resemblances and resonances of 4'33" in artworks as wide-ranging as the paintings of the Hudson River School and the music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono,he provides much-needed cultural context for this fundamentally challenging and often misunderstood piece. Gann also explores Cage’s craft, describing in illuminating detail the musical, philosophical, and even environmental influences that informed this groundbreaking piece of music. Having performed 4'33" himself and as a composer in his own right, Gann offers the reader both an expert’s analysis and a highly personal interpretation of Cage’s most divisive work.

A good introduction, but doesn't add anything new
In fairness, the author doesn't CLAIM to add anything new to the subject.

This book is a nice introduction to Cage, centering on the piece 4'33", for readers not already familiar with Cage or much else about modern music.Anyone who's already read Cage's book "Silence" or any general monograph on Cage will not likely learn much new here.The book is breezily written; it can be read in one or two sittings.It might make a good gift for a teenager with musical interests, or for the parents of a composer who are feeling mystified by their offspring's creations.

Whereof one cannot speak....
I bought this book both because of my interest in Cage and the avant garde as well as my love of the critical insights of Kyle Gann.
And I was not disappointed.Gann's analysis of this seminal work of the avant garde addresses the social context of the piece as well as the various criticisms of it.And in so doing he makes it clear that this is, as he says, the best known work of the avant garde as well as a very important work from which we can understand much of what came later including minimalism, art "happenings" and indeterminate methods.He correctly positions it as a sort of "urtext" piece much like Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring".
Gann does this in an eminently readable style with a very complete set of references and a discography (yes, the "silent piece" has been recorded many times). He even gives strategies by which a performer can approach the interpretation of the score.
This can be read with equal benefit by academics, musicians and general readers.

It's not just about silence
This is an extraordinary book, because by focusing on just one piece by John Cage, Gann brings into the discussion the whole world of art and sensibility of the period, the late 40's to the 60's.

This is a "must-have" and "must-read" for anyone interested in the period.

Shhh
Gann does a fantastic job at putting 4'33'' and Cage into context. The book is remarkably well researched.As Gann says, this book could not have been written in the 20th Century, given the amount of books that have come out in the last 15 years.In his introduction, Gann mentions that his interest in Cage started at an early age, and one can't help be influenced by his curiosity. "No Such Thing As Silence" has been very helpful with my own writing on 4'33'' and Cage; and has helped inform me as to why Cage just might be one of the most important composers of all time.
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Product DescriptionAmerican composer John Cage (1912-1992) was without doubt one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth-century music. He spent much of his career in pursuit of an unusual goal--"giving up control so that sounds can be sounds", as he put it. As well as composing around 300 works, he was also a prolific performer, writer, poet, and visual artist. This Companion celebrates the richness and diversity of Cage's achievements and provides readers with a fully rounded portrait of a fascinating figure. ... Read more

Product DescriptionUniting fifty never-before-seen watercolor images, this book explores the powerful influence of Zen on the renowned artist and composer’s work.This book brings together fifty never-before-seen watercolor images from the brush of renowned artist and composer John Cage. These pieces were initially considered a by-product of a 1988 Mountain Lake Workshop, test sheets used to experiment with the flow of color from Cage’s brush as he prepared for larger Zen pieces, but authors Stephen Addiss and Ray Kass unite them here to explore the influence of Zen in Cage’s life. They juxtapose the compositions with the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, a series of images used to communicate the essence of Zen for nearly one thousand years. They refer fragments of Cage’s poetry and his many statements about Zen practice, providing a fascinating lens through which the reader can view the Mountain Lake Workshop paintings. Cage’s images seem to become mysterious echoes of the centuries-old Ten Ox-Herding Pictures themselves, images about searching for the path to enlightenment. 50 color, 12 black-and-white illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Disappointed in a favorite
I am a great fan of John Cage but this book was disappointing to me. The layout, graphics, type, etc. were striking but the actual art was not the work of the John Cage that I love. I tried to understand the Zen references - but the entire package left much to be desired (sorry to call it a "package" but that is my take on the book).

A sublime series of watercolors by John Cage
Late in life, Cage was suddenly invited to create visual art by Kathan Brown of Crown Point Press, and also by Ray Kass of the Mountain Lake Workshop, who invited Cage to make watercolors.In 1988 Cage did a number of test sheets, using ordinary brown paper towels.On these he tested color combinations and various brushes, so as to aquaint himself with the medium.Previously, Cage had done etchings (at Crown Point Press) and pencil drawings (which he worked on at his home in New York).The watercolor medium was new to him, but thanks to the sensitivity and guidance of Ray Kass, Cage found that he gradually came to understand and enjoy working in the medium.The watercolor tests (fifty of them reproduced here in full color) have now come to be associated with one of Cage's favorite Zen Buddhist parables; the Ox-Herding Pictures.In them, a parable is spun of an individual's quest to find himself, with the Ox symbolizing the human heart.The series in in ten scenes, ("Searching For The Ox", "Finding It's Traces", etc.) leading to self-enlightenment.In the exhibition and this book both Ray Kass and Steve Addiss (a former student of Cage at the New School in the late 1950's) select among the watercolor tests to create a suite of five series of abstracted versions of the Ox-Herding Pictures.This arrangement was in accordance with Cage's wish; for when Kass said that Cage should make a piece using the test sheets Cage relied "You should make a piece with them."The resultant suites are full of subtlety, variety, and unexpected beauty, especially considering their humble means.Cage went on to create many sublime watercolors at the Mountain Lake Workshop, including some pieces thirty feet wide or more.But these small, unassuming test sheets remain a very delightful and important part of Cage's visual art output.In time, I believe Cage will be recognized as an important visual artist on par with his work in music and writing.Perhaps now he already is.But in any case, lovers of Cage's work in any and all media won't want to miss getting this wonderful book.The design and printing of the book is flawless, and the essays that preface the fifty color plates are insightful and very informative.
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Product DescriptionJohn Cage, a leading figure of the American musical avant-garde and lecturer and writer extraordinary, dedicated himself to the search for new horizons in musical composition. Silence is a collection of some of the essays and lectures that have made John Cage's name synonymous with all that is unpredictable and exciting in contemporary miusic. Outrageous they may be, but to anyone who is receptive to new ideas, to fresh and original ways of looking at and listening to things, they are a mine of fascinating discovery. And, as Cage fans will expect, the book also contains a wealth of handy information on collecting mushrooms, fishing through ice, and so on, as well as many anecdotes and Zen-type stories which illustrate Cage's exuberant artistic pre-occupations. ... Read more

Product DescriptionWritings through James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, Norman O. Brown, and The Future of Music. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Great Body of John Cage!
John Cage was busy during the 1970s, and his book Empty Words reflects that busy-ness in ways obvious and hidden.As a book of essays on music, it's a satisfying and provocative read.As poetry, that depends on what you make of his procedural driven work in the field, and also how much you like what seems today like frankly occasional poems, the bread and butter notes of another, more polite age.Cage interestingly foregrounds his lack of fixed address, what one might call his transnationality, early on, in the epigraph, which involves a typically charming anecdote among houseguests, one from the US, one from Melbourne, who find themselves at the same breakfast table in Paris.As many attest, Cage was an enchanting conversationalist, the equal of Wilde or Lytton Strachey, but perhaps with more of a Buddhist pacific nature.In Empty Words we find him singing for his supper over and over again, and like Coleridge's Table Talk, there's something sort of sad about him having to amuse the rich and curry their favor, but he also felt comfortable among them, could let his hair down to a certain extent.It was thoughtful of his patrons to give him an annual stipend so he didn't have to work, but it made him into a pet.Someone is probably doing an analysis right now of Cage and capital, but it speaks between the lines of every other mesostic on display here.

"The Future of Music" is Cage at his happiest, an essay in which he asks us to consider what is missing from today's music (well, the music of the mid 1970s).In generally advancing concentric circles of prose, he makes the circle more and more inclusive, asking us to consider what soldiers (instead of being shipped out to war) might offer to music, what the elderly can give--the "senior citizens whom we have persuaded to leave us in favor of sunshine, fun and games."(Florida perhaps?)Music ignores prisoners at its peril, and the retarded and disabled as well.He would see a world in which social interaction was everything, and to hell with the hierarchies which have divided music into a specialized labor force of performers, and a lumpenproletariat of listeners.In this gradual widening of effort and access he sees something of what he calls, after George William Mead, the "religious spirit."

Another major work is the fascinating "Series re Morris Graves." I have no idea how this long poem got itself written but it is a Bressonian meditation on what it's like to live in one fabulous place after another, from the point of view of the eternal houseguest, one with a wry eye for his ridiculous hosts.With his vegan and raw foods diet he himself wasn't the simplest guest to feed, but he acknowledges this in a dashing way and he never lost his aplomb, nor his sense of wonder.

The Great mind of John Cage!
If you are familiar with John Cage's thinking you will enjoy and understand this book as well as his other numerous writings, and fantastic music. If you are new to Cage's work, well, be patient and try to follow. Perhaps some previous reading of his poetry and writings will guide you more towards this book. I am a fan and admirer of Cage's work, so I loved it.
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Product DescriptionWritten in his characteristic ìmesosticsî (linked lines of prose poetry), Composition in Retrospect is a statement of methodology in which composer John Cage examines the central issues of his work: indeterminacy, non understanding, inconsistency, imitation, variable structure, contingency. Finished only shortly before his death in 1992, Composition in Retrospect completes the documentation of Cage's thought that began with his classic book Silence (1961), but it is an introduction and invitation to his work as much as a summary or conclusion. Also included in this volume (at Cage's request) is ìThemes and Variations,î a piece written in 1982 about friends and heroes such as Jasper Johns, Buckminster Fuller, Marcel Duchamp and Erik Satie. Together these pieces form a book that is both a testament to the artists Cage admired, and a clear statement of his own ars poetica. ... Read more

M by John Cage
I read this book many years ago and do not know if it is even still in print. I saw that no-one had reviewed it and felt duty bound to add my little bit in the hope it might persuade someone else to go to the troubleof seeking out this book. It is one of THOSE books, a true giant of a thing- not just for the ideas and insights it contains but for the wonderful waythat it is written. Cage's music was years ahead of its time (still isprobably), the book is the same. Brilliant, challenging, rambling,inspirational and utterly engrossing; it's the nearest any of us will everget to being inside the mind of a genius. I can not recommend this bookhighly enough, but it is especially good if you are feeling like doingsomething new in your life and haven't quite got the nerve. This guy hadguts!
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Product DescriptionOne of the twentieth century's most influential and iconoclastic protagonists, John Cage (1912-1992) may be described not so much as a composer, artist and author, as a thinker who applied his ideas equivalently to sound, visual art and writing. As with his music, the use of chance operations--in particular via the Chinese Book of Changes, or I Ching--was central to Cage's approach to visual art, determining technique, the placement of forms and even tonal values. Every Day is a Good Day provides the first broad assessment of Cage's art, and is fully illustrated with plates of his drawings, watercolors and prints, including series such as Where R=Ryoanji (1983-92). Cage's working methods and philosophies are brought to light in new interviews with key collaborators: printmaker and writer Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press; Laura Kuhn, Director of the John Cage Trust; artist Ray Kass; and Julie Lazar, curator of Cage's composition for a museum, Rolywholyover: A Circus. Extracts from a 1966 interview between John Cage and critic Irving Sandler are also reproduced. At the heart of the book is a "Companion to John Cage," a selection of quotes by Cage and notes on key themes and influences, all of which make it essential reading on this important figure of the twentieth-century avant garde. ... Read more

Product DescriptionAlthough John Cage has been almost universally recognised as the leading figure of the post-war musical avant-garde, this is the first book to present a complete and coherent picture of Cage the composer. Providing a historical account of Cage's musical concerns and changing style, James Pritchett describes just what it was Cage did and why and how he did it. The book is centred around extensive descriptions of the most important works and compositional techniques, including in-depth explanations of the role of chance and indeterminacy in Cage's music. Dr Pritchett also considers the relationship of Cage's musical thought to his interests in such diverse subjects as Eastern philosophy and religion, Marshall McLuhan, and anarchism (among many others). This book thus makes the essential introduction to Cage's musical world. ... Read more

Product DescriptionAsserting that John Cage's innovations from the late 1930s and 1940s represent much more than a transitional phase in the American composer s sonic and philosophical journey, composer and theorist Thomas DeLio focuses his analytical energies on Amores, an economical four-movement quartet dating from 1943. This particular chamber work calls attention to Cage's dedicated expansion of musical resources by his creation of a repertory for percussion instruments as well as one for an instrument of his own invention, the prepared piano. In this study the piece is interpreted by Professor DeLio as a singular moment in music history: the reconciliation of what the author has identified as organic and inorganic approaches to composition central to the evolution of music during the twentieth century. In doing so, he surveys the relevant thoughts of prominent aestheticians and places this piece at a nexus of what some have labeled Modernism and Postmodernism, but which DeLio understands as two branches of Modernism itself. Accompanying the text is a compact disc containing an especially memorable recorded performance of Amores, one first issued in 1961 featuring Cage himself in the two movements conceived exclusively for the prepared piano.Includes audio CD. ... Read more

Product DescriptionComposer John Cage is often described as the most influential musician of the last half-century. He has defined - and continues to define - our whole concept of "avant-garde", not just in music but increasingly as writer and visual artist. "The Roaring Silence" is the first full-length biography of Cage. It documents his life in unrivalled detail, interweaving a close account of the evolution of his work with an exploration of his aesthetic, political and philosophical ideas. David Revil maintains that Cage's extraordinary productivity and versatility are best understood in the light of his inner development. His life, work and ideas have clarified, refined and reinforced one another, and thereby Cage has made himself what he is. While never assuming specialist knowledge, this book discusses all of Cage's works in depth and sets them in the context of his compositional, theoretical and personal development. Also included are the most comprehensive worklist, discography and bibliography available to date, as well as many previously unpublished photographs.The author draws judiciously on extensive library and archive material, and on exclusive interviews and conversations with Cage and many of his friends and associates. The result is a true-to-life and true-to-form appreciation of a genuine original, of interest not only to the serious researcher and the musician but to everyone interested in the cultural influences that have shaped, and are shaping 20th century thought. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

John Cage : "Perhaps You Would Understand It If You Did It"
The Roaring Silence by David Revill includes all of this information and much, much more. This biography gives a very personal account of the life of John Cage, and Revill makes it clear to the reader all too often that he knew Cage personally. It seemed as if this personal relationship interfered with the account of Cage's life and made it confusing. This confusion was caused by explanation and not enough placement of where the author was in Cage's life (even though the chapters are labeled by a span of a few years each). This makes it difficult to figure exactly when Cage did some things and makes the reader guess all too often. Perhaps this non-straight forwardness should be applauded in getting into tremendous detail about some things that another author might skim over, but I only found it discouraging. Name-dropping and over-quoting were another consequence of this personal approach, which I also felt was inappropriate.
Adding to this narrative confusion, Cage's life is extraordinarily complex in and of itself. To try to explain what Cage attempted in his work, along with giving concise descriptions of it would be quite a feat. Though it was nice that The Roaring Silence encapsulated all of his work, be it painting, music, or prose, it may have benefited both the author and the audience if it was clearer about what was what. In the very same chapter that discussed an integral and complex piece of music, Revill would quickly run-down what his art looked like at the time, then return to talking about the music composition. This also sparked some confusion.
In terms of biographical information, The Roaring Silence seems extremely thorough. Aside from the abundance of contextual information regarding his works in the text, there is an extensive Chronology of Works among the last pages of the book. A Bibliography and Source Notes accompany the text with many other sources of information about Cage. A full sixteen pages wedged between chapters contains some black-and-white photos of his life along with some images of his artwork and compositions on staff paper. However, there is nearly no background information given about his family, or even the young Cage's life. The beginning of the book skims over Cage's life through high school in about the time that Revill would later focus on only two years of the older Cage. I contend that because Revill did not know Cage at a young age, he did not bother to research these years and thusly skimmed over it so that he could emphasize the point that he knew John before anything significant happened. Though this is yet another foreseeable weak point of the book, it does not mean that the book is all that bad.
The ways in which this book are effective can be clearly overtaken by the plethora of confusion in The Roaring Silence. However, this should not be taken to mean that Revill's work should be taken for granted. In the biography, he effectively compiles as much information about John Cage's composing life that anyone could dig up. Throughout the progress of the book, he consistently refers to actual letters Cage sent or received along with transcripts of speeches or dialogues Cage was actively involved in. There is a highly objective sense in the book though it is clear that Revill has some personal biases based on his knowing Cage. Revill never comments on any of Cage's pieces or editorializes on why this piece of art is more profound than that one. Personally, for such a confusing composer such as Cage, I treasure the omission of unnecessary opinion when already having difficulty sorting out what it is that Cage actually accomplished in his life. However, I can also see why some may want the author to comment more than he does in trying to understand some people's active opinions of Cage during his life.
In reviews of the biography found elsewhere, the most positive comment I could find was that The Roaring Silence is, at best, a "fine" companion to Cage's autobiographical work Silence. Though I have not read Cage's autobiography, I believe that I am more strongly encouraged to go and read a copy. Perhaps having read the biography first, I might have gotten a fuller picture of his life. Perhaps this would only create more confusion. With all of the quotes straight from Cage's mouth or from Silence encapsulated in this work, I am inclined to imagine that the holes that remain here are also found in the autobiography.
Cage's influence is apparent throughout the pages of the book. Revill draws connections with other composers directly affected by Cage's work. In Cage's constant defense, Revill also continually argues that he is possibly the most important composer of our time. He spares no time at all in delving into the heart and mind of Cage, brushing off any of the negative criticism he received continually throughout his life. The way in which Revill constructs the biography extends Cage's influence into the realms of poetry, video art, printmaking, painting and dance.
Revill's The Roaring Silence is the first of its type, a complete biography (non-autobiographical) of John Cage. It is clear that throughout the early writing process, Revill worked closely with Cage in constructing the most authentic biography possible. In doing so, it captures much more that just a synopsis of Cage's external life. In many chapters, he discusses philosophical and aesthetic ideals that Cage held dear. In doing so, he relates periods of Cage's work to his state of mind of the time. Just as confusing as some of Cage's pieces were, so were his beliefs. Ever changing, non-committal and fervent were his ideas, sometimes all at once. The skepticism, however, that was typical of Cage's personality was evident throughout his life in both his music and his beliefs. As a media scholar myself, I find of particular interest the close intellectual bond that he shared with the ideas of Marshall McLuhan. These were both people who were out to prove the world wrong and to change it and challenge it in ways never before thought possible. The idea of the world as a 'global village' fascinated Cage greatly, and he constantly went back to McLuhan's ideas for inspiration that are evident in his own poetry, paintings and other composition. It has been said that Cage was not of this world, he was merely living in it and I strongly believe that this is a just description of the man.
Cage's innovations also do not go unnoticed in this book. His prepared piano is still commonly referred to and used by many musicians today. In his time, this avant-garde instrument was looked down upon and today is commonplace among many post-modern composers. Cage also pioneered the idea of indeterminate notation in which instructions on staff paper are very loosely based and much is left largely to the performer. This focus on the performer is something that many composers tended to ignore before Cage. Now, there is a clear interest in many classical performers and the composers who write for them. Finally, Cage's use of aleatoric music and chance methods of composition such as the I Ching were extremely huge innovations for his time. Again, today, there remains a large influenced group of post-modern composers who utilize aleatoric music in nearly every composition. These sorts of influences are used by Revill in determining and emphasizing Cage's importance in the realm of classical music. In doing so, he focuses on more than just Cage's quirkiness and bizarreness and cuts through to a key element of his compositional life.
As stated previously, this book also spans many years and many phases of Cage's life. Not only does Revill illuminate the composer that Cage was, he also delves into the more brushed-over aspects of his life: the performer, the printmaker, the watercolorist, the expert amateur mycologist, the game show celebrity, the political anarchist, and the social activist. His influence in all of these areas is noted doubly by Revill. I am told today by my fashion-designer girlfriend that even the 2007 color for winter is named J. Cage. The cult phenomenon known as John Cage clearly found his way into nearly everyone's life he touched in some way.
It is clear that Cage's influence, not only as a composer, is evident in The Roaring Silence. This, I believe, is the strongest element of Revill's work. The personal flares that he adds in sometimes enhance the reading experience, and sometimes distract from the overall cohesiveness of the work. I can honestly say that I wish that I had read Cage's own Silence before reading this. As a companion to Silence, I am sure that this biography only enhances the reader's understanding. However, not all is wrong with The Roaring Silence. An overall fascinating read cover to cover, it was a joy to experience the mystery that was John Cage.

Read this to hear differently
An essential book for anyone interested in John Cage's music or post-war classical music. It gives a comprehensive view of Cage's entire life as well as his thoughts on music, covering his time both before and afterdiscovering Zen. David Revill writes in a matter of fact, straightforwardmanner, without infusing the book with his personal opinions, although hispercussion background comes through when he describes the rhythmic detailsof Cage's compositions. Overall a fine introduction to Cage's thought, butbe sure to hear his music as well.
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Product DescriptionWhen the great avant-gardist John Cage died, just short of his eightieth birthday in 1992, he was already the subject of dozens of interviews, memoirs, and discussions of his contribution to music, music theory, and performance practice.But Cage never thought of himself as only (or even primarily) a composer; he was a poet, a visual artist, a philosophical thinker, and an important cultural critic.

John Cage: Composed in America is the first book-length work to address the "other" John Cage, a revisionist treatment of the way Cage himself has composed and been "composed" in America.Cage, as these original essays testify, is a contradictory figure. A disciple of Duchamp and Schoenberg, Satie and Joyce, he created compositions that undercut some of these artists' central principles and then attributed his own compositional theories to their "tradition."An American in the Emerson-Thoreau mold, he paradoxically won his biggest audience in Europe.A freewheeling, Californian artist, Cage was committed to a severe work ethic and a firm discipline, especially the discipline of Zen Buddhism.

Following the text of Cage's lecture-poem "Overpopulation and Art," delivered at Stanford shortly before his death and published here for the first time, ten critics respond to the challenge of the complexity and contradiction exhibited in his varied work.In keeping with Cage's own interdisciplinarity, the critics approach that work from a variety of disciplines: philosophy (Daniel Herwitz, Gerald L. Bruns), biography and cultural history (Thomas S. Hines), game and chaos theory (N. Katherine Hayles), music culture (Jann Pasler), opera history (Herbert Lindenberger), literary and art criticism (Marjorie Perloff), cultural poetics (Gordana P. Crnkovic, Charles Junkerman), and poetic practice (Joan Retallack).But such labels are themselves confining: each of the essays sets up boundaries only to cross them at key points.The book thus represents, to use Cage's own phrase, a much needed "beginning with ideas." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Cage (realy) explained
This book of essays marks the begginig of a new era on John Cage studies. Less romantic, more scientific, less partisan, more academical. Everybody who wants to learn about Cage have to read this book.

Forget the Zen--This is a Great Read
This book explores John Cage from all aspects of his life and work. In my opinion, the most valuable essay is Thomas S. Hines' biographical study of the young Cage as he begins to grope towards a definition of himself that includes artist and inventor as well as his role as a gay man in straight society.We see that Cage's experimental roots were clearly evident in his relationship with his gifted, albeit wayward, father, and his rather mysterious mother.Everything was in place well before Cage's dramatic encounter with Suzuki's version of Zen, and it could be argued that Cage would have been Cage even without it.There's lots to read and think about in this volume and I continue to return to it to understand this great American gadfly of the 20th century.

vigorous essays on a Zen interdisciplinarian
These are a collection of marvelous essays Marjorie Perloff has edited. The scope of Cage is seemingly immense, the implications of his work has touched varigated corners and crevices,abandoned places: the music world,the world of poetry,conceptual art, performance art, mushroomenthusiasts,opera, and other synergistic art forms we have no label foryet. Perloff herself chooses the influence of Duchamp to discuss, the endsof things of the Western canon was a frightening yet fascinating point inthe last century. And Cage always had done everything,like Duchamp with anelement of the lighthearted at work. There are analysis here as well asseasoned music essayist Jann Pasler's discussion on Cage's"Composition in Retrospect" a 1981 mesostic text. Pasler helpsexplain what this figuritivly complex yet disarmingly word play compositionmeans. Cage wrote many of his most important works in this structural form.And his own "Overpopulation and Art" is included here, asa aguiding means of response to these participants. This is as close as Cagegets to social and political/environmental reflection, you will notrecognize Cage here.Herbert Lindenberger is a well known writer in thecloistered world of Opera and he admirably reflects on Cage's one and onlyOpera "Europeras" and the Aesthics that may emit itself from thatvarigated and multidimensional work. Although aesthtics in itstraditionally bound demeanor was always and remained a by-product of theCage edifice, here in this opera he lets other impart their aesthticdesires by allowing singers to choose their own arias to perform. Also Cagescholar Joan Retallack(who has also an impressive series of interviews withCage) speaks here on "Poetics of a Complex Realism", and thisrefers to the American dimension of Cage, a topic seldom discussed. Thisrefers to the Trancendentalists tradition of social rebellion althoughquite passive in retrospect. Writers like Thoreau were important to Cage.Cage activism points in mysterious and undramatic ways. The making ofmeaning through performance and collaboration was what Cage had valued andhe contributed that legacy to the last century. Artifacts of art needcontinuous nurturing,scholarly explication, regular performance and triedand tested aesthetic canons to be attenuated. Rather within this insecureworld, Cage's hope was to nurture a tradition of performers,ofcommunicators equipped with a conceptual fredom of expressive means througha varied and interdisciplinary world which didn't seem to depend on any oneparticular discipline or technique, as the rigours of composition or,playing the violin, or writing symmetrical verse.
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The New Grove Dictionary of Music has said of John Cage that he "had a greater impact on world music than any other American composer in the twentieth century," and his musical thinking forms a whole with his writing. For the Birds is a book, a dialogue and an event all at once. The initial conversations were recorded in France between 1968 and 1978 and were then reconstructed, reedited and commented upon by Cage. The final text, with footnotes and asides added over the years, is prefaced by a typographical celebration of his ideas compiled by Cage himself.

This ebullient collection of questions and answers covers a wide variety of topics. Cage's great wit and intelligence are allowed to range across such subjects as his own music and texts, mushrooms, chess, James Joyce, Mao, Thoreau, Satie, electronic music, the prepared piano, Zen, the environment, technology, politics and economics.

John Cage was born in Los Angeles in 1912. He studied music with Adolf Weiss, Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg, and he has shared ideas with Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miro and Max Ernst, as well as such prophets as Marshall McLuhan and Buckminster Fuller. He was music director of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for decades and held a number of academic posts. Cage was a composer, poet, graphic artist, teacher and critic. He died in New York in 1992.

"He is not a composer, he's an inventor -- of genius."--Arnold Schoenberg

Good stuff
A very good book. I used it for a research paper on the New York School and Abstract Expressionism. I focused on Cage, so I didn't read the whole book, but if it is as good as the section on Cage, I'd say it's a very good book.
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